October 08, 2009

Marathon Champ Disqualified for Using iPod: The first- and second-place finishers in the women's Lakefront Marathon have been disqualified, one for accepting water outside the stations and the other for listening to an Apple iPod. A USA Track and Field rule barred elite runners in the marathon from using electronic devices -- a policy that has been criticized. "If you're bored, it pumps you up a little bit," said runner Jennifer Goebel. Sometimes, on a long training run, I'll bring it along for the last half hour."

I don't see how the ipod provides an unfair advantage if everyone is allowed to use one.

I don't think it does. Marathon organizers don't want everyone to use iPods because it is dangerous to have so many people running the streets without paying attention to their surroundings. As a result, the iPods are against the rules. The advantage comes because this runner used hers to give her an extra boost that the other rule-following runners didn't have.

Marathon organizers don't want everyone to use iPods because it is dangerous to have so many people running the streets without paying attention to their surroundings

If they didn't close the streets for marathons, I'd be glued to my set every Patriots Day watching to see if any of those poor Kenyans survived Boston traffic. The rules are the rules, whatever, but change with the times. Demanding runners go without iPods sounds like some serious Catholic school bullshit. "We'll let you run the marathon, but you're not allowed to enjoy it."

yerfatma, I actually had that experience a couple of months ago in a 10K. I was in second place and I could see the leader about 300 yards ahead with about 1.5 miles to go. They had a highway patrol car stopping traffic where the course crosses Hwy. 1.

The leader ran across with traffic stopped, but the cop re-started the traffic as I approached the intersection. I was screaming "Hey hey hey!" and he just ignored me. I was seeing red mist already, and that just infuriated me further, so I just kept running, filtering through traffic with the cop screaming "STOP STOP, STOP HIM" to his partner across the road. As I blew past, his partner gave me a kind of "sorry about that" shrug and shook his head.

So meanwhile, I'm chasing the guy uphill, thinking "great, now I'm disqualified AND arrested - good work Dusty." To make it worse, even with all that adrenalin I still couldn't catch the guy in front. So I ran across the finish, took off my singlet, removed my bright yellow shoes and mixed in with the crowd. Never saw anyone looking for me, and still got a medal, so I guess they either forgave me or decided I wasn't worth the hassle.

The Kenyan, a University of Louisville graduate, was in the mass of runners that began five minutes after the elites in Chicago in 2008, but he stunned - and confused - folks by recording the fourth fastest time overall. He's proven his elite status now; he went on to win the Los Angeles Marathon in May in a course record 2:08:24, and also won The Challenge, the battle-of-the-sexes contest within the race. That alone was worth $100,000. Korir is hoping to build an orphanage in his Kitale, Kenya, hometown. "I was born into a very poor family. My passion is to help poor children. "God is giving me an opportunity to make a difference," Korir affirms.

The winners of the Milwaukee Lakefront Marathon are not exactly elite runners (although they are much, much faster than I am). The three women's times (the two disqualified winners and the third winner) were 3:02:09, 3:02:50, and 3:04:20. In comparison, the woman's marathon record is 2:15:25, and 40 women ran faster than 3:02:00 at the last Chicago Marathon. The prize money for first place was only $500.

This is not like George Brett using too much pine tar. This is more like an intermural championship being forfeited because some pinhead chose to enforce the pine tar rule at that level.

Would there be an issue with some of the other features of an iPod (Pedometer, FM radio)?

I'm not at all familiar with marathon rules (taxies and Uzis are not allowed, right?), so it could be that anything goes. I can see the FM radio feature being used to receive information about the other runners in the race, but then again it could be within the rules for a coach to use a megaphone or hold up signs to provide the same info.